


i'm living on a target and you shot it with an arrow

by aroundu



Category: Ensemble Stars! (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Ninjas, Crush, Farmer! Hinata, Light Angst, M/M, Ninja! Tsukasa, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-25
Updated: 2020-07-25
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:42:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,312
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25510780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aroundu/pseuds/aroundu
Summary: A ninja should be in complete control of their emotions- there should be no room for error because of the little voice in your brain that’s begging to act on what the heart wants. Yet, Tsukasa was making plenty of errors because of the sparkling, open-mouthed, crinkled eye smile of the farm boy in the market.
Relationships: Aoi Hinata/Suou Tsukasa
Kudos: 9





	i'm living on a target and you shot it with an arrow

**Author's Note:**

> oof this has been sitting in my wips for months so i just cleaned it up a bit to post,, so please excuse any mistakes

Ninjas are sneaky, skilled, and disciplined. They move swiftly to complete their tasks, whether it be an information collection mission or an assassination. The strongest of storms that rattle grand trees, or the largest of armies that decimate cities are no match for a ninja. There is no one more capable than a ninja; no one more reliable than a ninja, and one would be a fool not to be in awe of their skill.

Tsukasa was a ninja, one of the best in his class as a matter of fact. Even before attending the academy, his parents were training him to be the absolute best; they wanted him to be the next genius of the century. 

And for a while, things were turning out to be exactly like that. He was the golden child of the academy, praise sung to him about his accomplishments and natural talent. Classmates torn between admiration and reverie, or lashing out at him with green vines of envy. Regardless of which, he maintained his reputation of being the best, and no one was able to top him- Tsukasa was on the fast-track to being the best ninja of not only this century, but to be a legend that time would never be able to erase.

Such a thing can only last so long, for the colorful bruises covering him from head to toe- greens and yellows marks like his skin was a field basking in the sun- after spacing out during training, and the lecture ringing in his ear from his instructors are the beginning of the end for him.

The people at the academy mourn the loss of such a promising talent, proclaiming that Tsukasa is burning out and will have nothing to offer the next generation of ninjas except inferiority. Day after day, he made simple mistakes that even the most newbish of amateurs would laugh at him for. 

For weeks he’d been off his game. Sparring matches that were once too easy, left Tsukasa wincing for days afterwards as he put ointment on dark bruises littering his ribs. Archery, his forte and the thing he excelled at, was a flub. It wasn't a simple failure like being unable to hit the bullseye (a feat he once performed without a moment of hesitance), but an absolute, total failure of missing the entire target.

Another mess of a day at the academy had Tsukasa down in his spirits, his knees aching after standing on a thin pole for hours as punishment for tripping during a training exercise, having to switch which leg he stood on at the whims of his instructor. He dreaded going back home and being scolded by his parents after he’d already been demoralized in front of his entire class, so he decided to wander through the local village. 

For no reason other than to avoid going home, of course.

He spent hours slinking in the shadows of the marketplace, his training ingrained in him not to stand out, since he still struggled with “hiding in plain sight”. He could do it at a basic level, like avoiding bumping into people or causing a big scene, but his movements were too determined and exact to blend him into the background. So, he walked around alleyways, climbed up a roof here and there, and did his fair share of people watching.

A few hours later, the sun hung low in the sky, sending orange and red hues to mesh with the blue still lingering, and it would be nighttime soon, a few especially bright stars already visible. Tsukasa couldn’t avoid going home any longer unless he felt like walking in the dark. With news as of late about bandits taking out travelers and merchants under the moonlight in the forest, he knew it’d be best to return home. 

Despite the dusk hour, the market was still occupied with vendors and customers alike, so he took a breath and steadied himself to blend in. He wished to end his visit on a pleasant note, so that meant avoiding the vendors calling out with borderline harassments to buy their products.

Tsukasa walked from stall to stall, he could spare a bit of time to do the browsing he neglected earlier. He paid little mind to the contents of each, though; he had no money on him, his parents cutting off his allowance after his downward spiral, so it’d be troublesome to get attached to anything. Yet, he found himself frequenting the same sweets stand every time he visited the village.

Ever since Tsukasa’s performance had dropped, his parents also cut him off from sweets, certain that was the reason their prodigal son had been lacking in the past month, or at the very least that the incentive to improve and eat sweets again would be irresistible.

_ They weren’t too far off the mark in believing that first part _ , Tsukasa thought as he looked over the hard candies on display, though it was nothing more than a lazy scan, his violet eyes taking real interest was in the stall set up next to this one, one promoting crops from a local farm. 

“Thanks for your purchase. Please come again soon~!”

Tsukasa’s attention had drifted over to the stall in time to see the vendor complete a sale, his blinding smile burning his eyes, and had Tsukasa turning back to the sweets stand to calm the tremble of his heart.

A ninja should be in complete control of their emotions- there should be no room for error because of the little voice in your brain that’s begging to act on what the heart wants. Yet, Tsukasa was making plenty of errors because of the sparkling, open-mouthed, crinkled eye smile of the farm boy in the market. He learned last week that the boy’s name was Hinata, and it only hardened the sense that he was truly a sundrop blessed to walk this earth.

He risked a glance at the crop stand again, and inhaled sharply to cover a gasp when he saw the boy looking at him. Their eyes met and Hinata’s lips turned up into a practiced smile for his customers, and he waved a hand, beckoning for Tsukasa to come over.

“Ah, you’re peeking, so you must be interested~! C’mon and take a closer look!”

Frozen in place, Tsukasa tried to think of what to do. He’d been silently observing Hinata for weeks and avoided detection, never once engaging in a conversation with the other boy. He cursed his rusty training and failure to hide from the keen green eyes. The best course of action would be to run as fast he could and never return again- oh, what was he thinking?! That’d be suspicious for sure, and dishonorable for a ninja.

Hinata leaned over the counter, orange hair dropping into his tanned, freckled face, while his smile turned into something more teasing. “Hm? Are you shy? I won’t bite, and neither will the vegetables, no matter what the kids say~”

“I’m not scared of vegetables.” Tsukasa let himself be taken in by the taunt, and stepped over in front of the crop stand. He wasn’t scared of the vegetables, but the vendor was a different story. His restless hands itched to occupy themselves with something to work out his nervous energy, but Tsukasa knew it’d be unwise to pull out his shurikens in the middle of a conversation. Even if they always offered him comfort and an undeniable sense of security.

“How brave of you to face your fears and meet these evil vegetable monsters head-on.”

It was bad enough that Hinata had called him out for staring, Tsukasa didn’t need to be teased by his playful personality, or else his poor heart would never be able to beat at a normal rate again. 

“I said I wasn’t scared of vegetables.” Tsukasa tore his eyes away from Hinata’s saccharine grin to look at the collection of vegetables on display. They didn’t look half as good as the sweets did and Tsukasa couldn’t prevent himself from furrowing his brows, and casting a glance back at the sweets stand.

Hinata laughed, and Tsukasa prayed that the warmth he felt on his cheeks could be passed off because of the lingering sunlight overhead, “nothing can beat the candies next door, I know. If you come around back I can show you the fruits, something a bit sweeter than the veggies, y’know?”

Tsukasa bit his lip. The “back” Hinata was talking about was a small space, and Tsukasa knew he would lose any semblance of cool he had if he shared such a space with Hinata. He’d start stuttering over his words like a chattering bird, his mind would implode if their arms brushed against each other, and God help him if Tsukasa was close enough to touch Hinata’s long, shimmering orange hair that framed his face as gently as a mother tucks her child into their bed.

Not to mention how unbefitting his current behavior was for a ninja. Ninja’s were meant to be emotionless and cutthroat. Disciplined. Sure, Tsukasa’s physical abilities came naturally to him, an internal bud of talent from birth that was blossoming into a powerful flower, but if he couldn’t keep his emotions in check then he’d make for an awful ninja.

“Actually, I have to be going now.” Tsukasa spun on his heel, guilt racing through him. He finally had an opportunity to talk to the person that’s been on his mind for weeks, and all he could hear was the stern voice of his teacher’s scolding him.

“Wait!”

The plea cut into Tsukasa’s heart, and the longing of his heartstrings had him hesitantly turning his head to meet Hinata’s eyes.

“Don’t run off forever okay? My name is Hinata Aoi,” he said, giving information that Tsukasa already knew. A moment passed and Hinata raised his eyebrows at Tsukasa expectantly. Tsukasa swallowed.

“Tsukasa Suou.”

Hinata blinked at him and for a second Tsukasa’s stomach twisted with fear that Hinata was somehow familiar with the Suou ninja clan, but after a moment he raised a hand to his chin in thought.

“Tsukasa-kun,” he tested the name on his lips and Tsukasa begged his poor heart to keep it together and not lapse into a heart attack. “Or maybe Kasa-kun. Tsu-kun? Kasa-chan?”

Tsukasa’s pulse thrummed as hard as it did when he had his first official mission from the academy at the barrage of nicknames passing Hinata’s lips, and his hands clenched into fists at his sides to try to direct energy elsewhere.

“Just ‘Tsukasa-kun’ is fine!” His voice came out pitched higher than normal, carrying a whine not too far off from a child’s voice.

“Well~ I’ll see you around, Tsukasa-kun.” Hinata waved at him with a wink, and that was all Tsukasa needed to push him to speed walk away and save himself from more grief.

His skin was hot and sweaty to the point that he couldn’t put full blame on the typical summer weather, yet, for all his discomfort, Tsukasa felt like he was on cloud nine. That was a stressful encounter, Tsukasa would lie awake thinking about how embarrassing he was, but he  _ finally _ managed to talk to Hinata.

Ninja customs were far too traditional and outdated, or maybe Tsukasa just wasn’t cut out to be a ninja- it didn’t matter. All his strict training sessions and the rigid list of rules to follow were suffocating and as oppressive as the summer sun beating down on him while he stood on that stupid pole. Why was it so wrong that he wanted an emotional connection beyond naming his shurikens?

The sun set during Tsukasa’s walk home and his parents laid into him for walking alone in the dark, and when they paused to catch their breaths he prayed he would be spared another lecture about his faultiness at school, yet his luck wasn’t with him, and he sat through another round of lectures detailing his abysmal performance. 

He listened with a blank face, and at the end of it all answered with short words and a promise to be better- a promise he wasn’t sure he could keep if Hinata’s beautiful laugh ringing in his ears had anything to do with it.

Returning to his room, he changed into his sleeping garments, carefully resting his belt containing shurikens and daggers alike on a hook. He slipped one dagger out of the belt and took it with him to his bed to sleep next to him, yet another rule enforced by his parents.

The Suou Clan and the ninjas from his academy would laugh at him if they ever found out about his infatuation with some lowly farm boy street vendor, he’d been mocked enough to know exactly how it would go if that secret ever came to light. But, there was one place Tsukasa was safe, since no ninja would ever be able to encroach on his dreams.

So, Tsukasa slept soundly, his dreams occupied with the orange-haired boy who fondly called Tsukasa a variety of nicknames, each one cheesier than the last. 

In his dreams, he could indulge himself to believe they held hands, and imagined how firm Hinata’s grasp must be since he worked in the fields most days. When Tsukasa would join their hands together, Hinata would laugh and say something like “Tsukasa-chan is quite the charmer~” and maybe Tsukasa is bolder in his dreams, so he wouldn’t flinch and stare at his feet, or stutter over his words. He’d be able to confess his feelings and Hinata would swoon, and fall into Tsukasa’s arms, begging him to run away together. Everything would be perfect.

But dreams were dreams, so Tsukasa tried not to feel too disappointed when he woke up with the only thing in his hand, a knife he received on his tenth birthday.

**Author's Note:**

> here;s my [twitter](https://twitter.com/AOlHlNATA) where i love hinakasa all hours of the day


End file.
